Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike comes with all of the bells and whistles you expect from an expansion: new maps, new vehicles, new weapons, new tools, new way to play and new awards.
The new maps are designed, of course, to take advantage of the new vehicles that come with Northern Strike. The Bridge at Remagen features two parts of the city divided by the frozen Rhine River. This is a great urban set up with several flags that cannot be taken by just camping them in a vehicle. Lots of room for sneaky snipers and Pilam-toting engineers. Port Bavaria is a high mountain base used to resupply and service Titans. During the attack, one team must reclaim the higher ground using jump transports. The liberation of Leipzig is a dark map featured around a downed Titan in a city setting.
The EU's A3 Goliath and the PAC's Hachimoto are two very different but equally deadly vehicles. The Goliath is a beast amongst all other vehicles in the game. The slow-moving, self-healing hulk works its way slowly and lethally about its mission. It features a main turret that fires timed explosives and a concentrated, shotgun-like blasts. It also features two rapid fire, anti-vehicle shots and multiple anti-personnel machine gun turrets. There is a chink in the beast's armor though. Take out the devices around the vehicle that furnish its healing power and the Goliath will fall. The Hachimoto is a high speed hover vehicle with light armor with a deadly sting from its twin front cannons and manned top cannon. This high speed vehicle is great for hit and runs, but be careful, it isn't very hardy.
There are ten new unlockable toys for use in battle. The Ghost (DS-22 Sniper Decoy) is a decoy device that can trick your enemy into thinking there is another or stationary sniper allowing you to lure away units and attack with deception. Also for the Recon, there is an extended camo upgrade, extending the time you can remain hidden. The ESP modification to the Clark shotgun allows you to fire timed, adhesive devices which are good for short and long range. There is an ammo extension for the assault rifle, shotgun and rocket ammo. You can find hidden enemies without calling for radar using the CM3-N Radar Grenade. Extend your firing time with the SMG Clip expansion. Sometimes your motion mines are just a little out of reach, or you have to hide them very inconspicuously, but you need to give them a little wake up nudge to seek out targets. That is where the MMB-5 motion sensor bait comes in. Throw it to decoy away motion mines or draw them in. The IDS-1 Infantry Sonar allows support units to deploy a stationary sonar allowing you to better defend a position. Shock-absorbing boots will cushion your fall and allow quicker stamina recovery. And lastly, for the squad commander, there is the SL-RPU allowing fallen team members to quickly re-enter the battle without the pesky wait. You can quickly unlock many of these new toys by earning unlocks for the awards and pins associated with this expansion.
Tired of stand-offs during a map where you have beaten a team back to their main, uncapable, base and it is only a matter of time and people before the map ends? Now with Assault Lines, the main base will become unlocked after all other bases are in your possession, allowing you to capture it.
